


Bullet Proof

by Mafy_mod



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-08-10 07:11:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7835101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mafy_mod/pseuds/Mafy_mod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the break of the current decade, a new sport was created. It's name: "Hunt".<br/>There are two ways for a team of "Hunters" to win: "kill" all the members of the enemy team or bring the enemies "flag" to their "fort".<br/>This is the tale of a team with the objective of being the best in Japan, and the light and shadow that will make it come true.</p><p>[Status: permanently dropped.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I see that this newbies may be more promising than what not, by your expression

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I've began another KnB fic!
> 
> This time is KagaKuro. It's one of my favorite pairings in the KnB universe (though AkaKuro continues to be my OTP), so I wanted to express my love for them XD

“No one’s coming, huh…” Aida Riko gave out another sigh. The headquarters of the ‘Hunter’ team was currently empty, with the exception of Hyuuga Junpei, the captain of the team, and herself, the head coach.

 

“Hey, Riko, why did you suddenly decide to start recruiting new members?” asked Hyuuga, sitting beside her on the reception desk.

 

“We’re in trouble, actually,” confessed the brunette, scratching lightly her cheek.

 

“’Trouble’?” asked the glasses wearing male, an eyebrow slightly lifted.

 

“Our team was founded last year, right?” slowly started Riko, fiddling with her fingers. “Since then we’ve entered in some championships and earned some money with the battles, but… Well, let’s just say that we’re a liiiiitle bit tight on the money department right now…”

 

“What!? How did that happen!?”

 

“There’s been a lot of teams lately so the ‘fields’ fees have kind of risen in price. Together with the maintenance of the weapons and suits, the fee of the headquarter building…” She gave a quick shrug. “It was only a matter of time for ‘Cold Truth’ to end up this way if we’re not really currently participating in ‘battles’.”

 

“And? Do we have any inscriptions already?” anxiously asked Hyuuga to the coach. Riko looked away and slowly lifted her hand, showing some of her fingers. “Three!? Are you kidding me!?”

 

“…”

 

Seeing the mournful look of the brunette’s face, the black haired male sighed. “Any promising ‘Hunter’?”

 

“Well, it’s hard to say if I don’t inspect them, but I’m sure they’ll do okay,” acknowledged Riko. “They have experience in the ‘field’. Besides, Koganei is still distributing pamphlets in the street with Izuki and Mitobe.”

 

 _In a certain way, that alone makes me kinda worried,_ mumbled inwardly the glasses wearing “Hunter”.

 

“R-Riko…” Riko and Hyuuga immediately looked to the source of the shaky voice and saw Koganei Shinji at the door, looking way more scared than his usual happy-go-lucky self. “I-I brought back a new ‘Hunter’.”

 

“Is this ‘Cold Truth’ HQ?” questioned a tall redhead by the door, pulling Koganei up by the back of his jacket.

 

“Y-Yeah…” stuttered Riko, intimidated by the heavy presence that the redhead emitted. _Koganei-kun, I don’t think you brought him… You were the one who was brought back in._

 

The redhead released the smaller male’s jacket and stepped fully inside of the room. Riko observed as he lunged forward. She could see it right away. This person was a “Hunter”, alright… The way he walked like he was pursuing a prey, defined muscles covered by the tight clothes on his body, the intensity of a wild predator… He was experienced “Hunter” and even those who only knew the most basic of things about them could see it immediately.

 

The redhead pushed a chair and sat in front of Riko and Hyuuga, looking down on them with an unfriendly look on his face.

 

“Umm… Here, have some tea.” Riko poured a plastic cup with some herbs tea she was giving to the ‘Hunters’ coming to the interviews and gave it to him. “You came because you saw our pamphlet?”

 

“That’s right,” acknowledged the redhead. He took the cup and sipped a little of the tea.

 

“We were only created last year, but we have some experienced ‘Hunters’ and entered in some championships,” started explaining the brunette. “However, someone with your build will surely be helpful and, of course, welcomed.”

 

“I don’t really care about that. Just gimme the registration paper. I’ll write my name and stuff, and go back.”

 

“S-Sure…” smiled awkwardly Riko as she fished around in the papers in the desk for the forms. She delivered it to him, together with a pen, and poured a new cup of tea for herself.

 

After some moments, the redhead gave the papers back to her.

 

“Give me a second to check if everything is okay, and then you can leave.” Riko held the paper in her hand and started reading.

 

The information was basic. His name was Kagami Taiga, 19 years old. A first year in a college in Tokyo, majoring in Sports. _Oh, it says he was in a team in America until his second year of high school. So he trained in the best place, huh…_

 

Riko peered again to the “Hunter” in front of her. No matter how she looked at him, Kagami just couldn’t be an average “Hunter”, one that followed the standard of what currently was going on around in Japan.

 

“Oh? You didn’t write nor your goals nor your reason for joining the team,” pointed out the coach, lifting her eyes from the paper once again.

 

“There’s none in particular. After all, Japanese ‘Hunt’ is the same everywhere I go.”

 

“…” For a brief moment, Riko thought that the redhead had a sad, almost pained, expression on his face.

 

“Can I leave now?” asked Kagami, the same unfriendly expression on his features.

 

“Y-Yes. The gathering for the new members is next Monday at 5 PM. Is that okay for you?” informed the brunette, putting down the form on the messy surface of the table.

 

“Sure.” The redhead got up from his seat and walked in the door’s direction. Koganei, with a frightened jump, moved out of his way and let him exit the room.

 

“S… So scary!” yelped Koganei after the taller male was out of view and hearing range. “Is this guy really younger than me!?” Koganei walked to the desk and sat up on top of it, moving some papers away to create room for him. “Ah, you have a registration paper here too.”

 

“Oh, I must have forgotten to store it.” Riko immediately picked the paper up and read the name it was under. “Kuroko… Tetsuya…? Hmm?”

 

_I don’t remember delivering the form to anyone besides that redhead that just came and the other three “Hunters”._

 

“Eh…? EEEEEEEHHHHHHH!? His previous team was ‘Emperor Light’!?!?” yelled flabbergasted the brunette.

 

“Wait! You mean _the_ ‘Emperor Light’!?” exclaimed Hyuuga, just as flabbergasted as the coach was. “That famous ‘Hunter’ team whose main ‘Hunters’ are known as the ‘Generation of Miracles’!?”

 

“If he’s 19 then that must mean he probably was on the team at the same time as them. Uwaaaaah, why can’t I remember such a golden egg!?” Exasperated, Riko clutched her head with her hands and brought it down to the table. “And that guy who just came from America…!”

 

“I see that this newbies may be more promising than what not, by your expression,” half joked Koganei, taking a look at the form in front of Riko.

 

“You bet! I can’t wait for Monday to come to see for myself their actual value!”

 

“Riko, you’re drooling…” pointed out Hyuuga, releasing a soft sigh while he looked sideways to the brunette.

 

“Shut up!” flushed the brunette, wiping the trickle of saliva escaping from her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Glossary]  
> "Cold Truth" - Seirin's kanji adaptation  
> "Emperor Light" - Teikou's kanji adaptation


	2. This is the first time I've seen such raw and natural talent!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's this week's chapter!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

In the training grounds of the headquarter building of “Cold Truth” were several members reunited, chatting happily with each other after the small break they had for finding new “Hunters” for their team.

 

Some oldest team members were trying to get to know the new ones, talking about their previous experiences in the “Hunt”.

 

“Alright, everyone seems to be present. All the newcomers come this way, please,” announced Riko as she stepped inside of the training grounds while blowing the whistle around her neck.

 

“Hey, isn’t the manager of this team quite cute?”

 

“I guess. Ouch!”

 

“Ouch!”

 

“You’re wrong, idiots!” corrected Hyuuga, suddenly creeping out on the two newbies and bumping their heads with his fists. “She’s…”

 

“I’m Aida Riko, ‘Cold Truth’s’ main coach. Nice you meet you, newbies!” greeted the brunette, the list of all new ‘Hunters’ in one of her hands.

 

“EEEEEEH!? Coach!?” reacted all the new members in unison.

 

Aida Riko only appeared your regular next door girl, not even looking that much older than them. It would be totally understandable if she was the team’s manager, since some of the biggest and more famous “Hunter teams” had one or two. This wasn’t a very famous one, and they had few “Hunters”, but it was still doable.

 

 _She’s the coach?_ Kagami was seriously starting to doubt if he had made the most correct choice by submitting his inscription to this team. What exactly could a female coach, only older by one or two years most likely, know about “Hunt” and “Hunters”?

 

The “Hunt” was mainly a sport for men. There existed few teams made of females, and almost none that composed of both sexes. There was nothing in the rules of the game that prohibited it and there was even some championships for teams composed of only female elements, but as the “Hunt” was a quite violent and mind-taxing game on its own, it was actually frowned upon to let women enter the teams, if they would have a bigger role than a member to train with.

 

Though he knew that women could be just as good as men in the “Hunt”, this particular brunette didn’t seem the sort of woman that had already participated in a match between “Hunters” at all.

 

“Well then. First of all…” Riko looked over at the newbies with a slight glint on her eyes, her mouth already watering at the prospect of the delicious things she would observe next. “Get all in line side by side and take off your shirts!”

 

“EEEEEEEH!? Why!?” questioned all the newbies, once again in unison.

 

“C’mon, c’mon. Be quick about it,” complained the female coach.

 

All the new members started undressing their upper training clothes, a questioning look on their faces. After the shirts were in front of them on the floor, they lined up like they were told to and waited for their next order.

 

“Hmm…” Riko approached the first on the line and glanced over at his exposed upper body. “You. Your instantaneous strength is lacking and weak. You must make around 50 steps in 20 seconds on the quick ladder training, right? If you want to be a ‘Hunter’, you must do better than that.”

 

She moved on to the next member and gave a short glance. “You. Your body is too stiff. You should train your flexibility every time you step out of the bath and every night before going to sleep.”

 

“You’re kidding me, right? She’s totally correct on her guesses…”

 

“She figured that out just by looking at our bodies?”

 

“The Coach’s father is a certified sports trainer,” explained Hyuuga. “After spending hours with her father on training grounds and observing bodies and data about them, she gained this special skill. Just by looking at someone’s body, she can see all its possibilities and stats.”

 

 _But well, that’s not the only reason why she’s the Coach,_ inwardly pointed out the captain.

 

Riko approached the last person on the line and her eyes almost popped out from its place.

 

“…What?” asked the redhead seeing her surprised face.

 

_Wh-What the hell!? These numbers are by far the best I’ve seen today!_

 

She glanced over to the papers on her hands and searched for the redhead’s registration form. His name was Kagami Taiga. The brunette looked up once again to the “Hunter” and analyzed the stats she was seeing. With a height of 190cm and weight of 82kg, he had incredible power, speed and flexibility. She gave a quick glance at the exposed bits of his legs and concluded that he would probably have an explosive jumping power on those pair of legs.

 

_These aren’t the stats of a normal “Hunter”!! On top of that, I can’t even estimate his full potential! This is the first time I’ve seen… such raw and natural talent!_

 

“Coach! How long are you going to daydream over there!?” admonished Hyuuga, bringing the brunette back to the real world.

 

“Sorry,” answered Riko while walking over in the captain’s direction, wiping the small trickle of saliva that was threatening to escape from her mouth with the sleeve of her coat. “You can all put your shirts back on.”

 

“You’ve seen everybody, right? That redhead was the last in line,” added the glasses wearing male.

 

“Eh? But…” She gave a quick look at the registration forms in her hand. “…Is Kuroko-kun here?”

 

“Ah, that’s right! That guy from ‘Emperor Light’, right!?” suddenly yelled Koganei, excited to see who could have belonged to that famous ‘Hunter’ team.

 

“Eh!? By ‘Emperor Light’, you mean _that_ ‘Emperor Light’!?” yelped Izuki Shun, one of the senior ‘Hunters’, in a surprised manner.

 

Riko continued looking around the training grounds, but she only saw all the current “Hunters” of the team and the new members she had analyzed earlier.

 

 _If such an amazing guy was here, I would have noticed him right away,_ muttered disgruntled the brunette in the back of his mind.

 

“I guess he couldn’t make it to today’s reunion. Well, then, let’s start the official introductions and explanations!” added Riko, lowering the hand that held the list of new members.

 

“Um… Excuse me.” Riko heard a small and soft voice near her but she couldn’t determine where it had come from. “I am Kuroko.”

 

“…Eh…” She blinked her eyes once and, all of a sudden, in front of her appeared a small male, only taller than her by some centimeters. “Kyaaaaah!!”

 

“Wha—!?” Whoa! Since when were you there!?” questioned Hyuuga, just as shocked as the coach was.

 

“I was here since the beginning,” answered the small bluenette, a completely expressionless look on his face.

 

“Seriously!?” exclaimed Izuki, rubbing lightly his eyes in disbelieve.

 

 _I-I didn’t notice him even though he was right in front of me! He… He just said he was Kuroko, right? Ehhh!? It’s like… he’s invisible!,_ continued Riko in her head.

 

From the reaction of all of the “Hunters” present, it wasn’t just Riko that hadn’t noticed the presence of this so called Kuroko Tetsuya, a previous member of the famous team “Emperor Light”, in the training grounds.

 

“Eh? Then, does that mean that this guy is the one from the ‘Generation of Miracles’!?” exclaimed Koganei, totally surprised at the small and almost harmless size of the ‘Hunter’.

 

“He can’t have been a regular ‘Hunter’. He was probably just used for training purposes,” pointed out Izuki, snorting softly at the weak semblance of the bluenette.

 

“Of course not. Right, Kuroko-kun?” acknowledged the captain, looking over to the smaller male.

 

“I have played in matches with them,” simply answered Kuroko, the same blank expression he had been using since the moment he had been spotted.

 

“See, just like I— Huh…?”

 

“EEEEEEEH!?” yelled all the ‘Hunters’ present in unison.

 

“Wait, take off your shirt!” urged Riko, anxious to analyze the stats of someone who actually trained and played in the same side as the famous ‘Generation of Miracles’.

 

“Eh? But I just put it back on…” pointed out Kuroko.

 

“Just do it, please!” begged the coach, continuing to take note on the stats that she could already see through the clothes of the bluenette.

 

Kuroko once again took his shirt off, completely unaware of the heated glare pointed in his direction by the taller redhead.

 

 _Who the hell’s this guy!? And what’s up with all the commotion on him!?,_ muttered inwardly Kagami, not understanding anything of what was going on right now.

 

“Hey, I need to ask you something.” Kagami went over to one of the new members and started questioning him. “What’s this all about ‘Emperor Light’ and the ‘whatever-the-other-name of Miracles’?”

 

“What, you don’t know them?”

 

“I was in America until a few months ago,” answered Kagami.

 

“Well, they are the most famous team of ‘Hunters’ here in Japan. The main five ‘Hunters’ of ‘Emperor Light’ are known as the ‘Generation of Miracles’ and they are said to be the strongest ‘Hunters’ in all of Japan! But…”

 

“But?” repeated the redhead, his curiosity slightly piqued.

 

“But they broke the team up some months ago, and all five members joined other teams, all strong and veteran ones, if I should add. I guess that must be the reason why Kuroko wanted to join another team, since his old one has disintegrated. Though the reason why ‘Emperor Light’ ended is unknown.”

 

_“Emperor Light” and the “Generation of Miracles”, huh…_

 

A glint of excitement surged in Kagami’s dark red eyes and he strongly clenched his fists, anxious to have his weapons on his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Glossary]  
> None to be added


	3. Okay, time to get the show rollin'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, minna-san! Merry Xmas!!!!  
> Mafy's here with the news that "Bullet Proof" is finally out of hiatus! Yay ^.^
> 
> This is my true Christmas present for all of you! I also proofread the old chapters and made some slight changes on them, so maybe you should re-read them, just to be sure.
> 
> Well, enjoy :D

With the growing popularity of the “Hunt” throughout the world, all the biggest cities of each country housed several fields used for tournaments and other competitions, as well as training facilities for the teams. Usually, those training facilities were only open during the day to allow the smaller teams training time, since the biggest ones had their own private facilities for that purpose. However, given the correct connections and some persuasion, some facilities opened some exceptions to certain “Hunters” and allowed them some training time on solo during the night.

 

Kagami had luckily managed to land himself an agreement with the owner of a small training facility in his neighborhood, all thanks to the big name that his teacher in America was all around the world. Seemingly, Japan was no exception to that. _I guess knowing Alex sometimes comes in handy._

 

After having prepared his body well enough for the training for a few minutes, he started calibrating his usual weapons, dual pistols ArmaLite Model AR-24. Though he called it such, only the exterior looked like one.

 

In the “Hunt”, almost all types of hand-held weapons were allowed, from knifes to pistols, from small flash grenades to semi- and automatic shotguns and machine guns. Everything inside those categories was allowed. However, it was in here that came in the most evolutionary particularity of this new sport. Though it was highly violent, be on the physical or mental levels, the “Hunt” was a majorly injury-free game using weapons, in which each team, composed of five elements each, tried to “kill” each other while searching for the enemy team’s “fortress”. All the weapons were completely useless if not operated inside of an active field and they didn’t have any effect in the person hit by them, only on the suit that each “Hunter” had to use to stay inside of said field.

 

The rules were simple: a “Hunter” couldn’t physically attack another “Hunter”, except if they are wielding a knife (though self-defense was allowed); if a “Hunter” was “killed”, the suit would auto-impose a cooling period of 1 minute where the “Hunter” couldn’t move; if the “Hunter” was “killed” 7 times, the suit would completely shut down and the “Hunter” wouldn’t be able to move until the game was over.

 

The ways of winning a match were even simpler – “kill” all the members of the enemy team or steal the "treasure" inside of their "fortress" and take it to their own "fortress".

 

It had been these simple rules that made the sport all the more interesting and made its popularity spread like wild fire through America, where it was invented, only stopping to proliferate when the entire planet recognized it as the invention of the century.

 

After having certified himself that his two pistols were completely operational, Kagami fastened the zipper in the front part of his training suit and put each pistol in their correspondent holster, also adding a Ka-Bar Becker BK2 Campanion Fixed Blade Knife to the small sheath in his right lower leg.

 

He opened the door that gave access to one of the fields of the training facility and felt the weird sensation that surfaced in his stomach every time he stepped inside of one. It was almost as if a change of air or gravity occurred around him and a strange excitement started to sip inside of him. Being in a field was exciting and participating in an official game of “Hunt” against a strong team was a high of exhilaration and anticipation that no other sport could provide him.

 

With quick strides, Kagami motioned to the panel that was fixed in the wall of the field, a few meters away from the door. Since this was a training field, there was both a panel inside, in case the “Hunter” was working on solo, and outside, if there were more than one person or a team working there and they wanted to program the field according to it. The redhead skirted through the options that could be done on solo and choose to train his aim by hitting moving targets.

 

_“Your option has been selected. Please place yourself in the center of the field. Once the ‘Hunter’ is in place, the countdown will begin.”_

 

Hearing the automatic message being displayed in the speakers, Kagami leisurely walked to the place that it had been indicated while flexing his arms to the sides of his body in preparation. The suit covering his body, with the exception of his head, easily accompanied his movements, in a way that normal clothes would never be able to.

 

The suits were special made to adjust to its user’s body. They were made of a mixture of polychloroprene and nanomachines, which enabled the user to move however they wanted without tearing and provided protection to the whole body in a somewhat comfortable way. The nanomachines incorporated in the fabric were used in the game to apply the cooling period when a “Hunter” was “killed”, as well as signalize their position on the field for the judges and “control tower” and prevent the weapons used of hurting the “Hunter”.

 

_“The game will start in 10 seconds. Nine… Eight…”_

 

Countdown already on, Kagami closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He flexed his fingers to form two fists and then unclenched them again, his hands hovering over his twin pistols as he patiently waited for the exercise to start.

 

_“Three… Two… One... ‘Hunt’ – begin.”_

 

The moment the buzz sounded, Kagami opened his eyes and quickly analyzed his surroundings. The settings had been put in a random mode so he didn’t know what type of enemies or field would be around him. When the redhead looked around and saw himself in the middle of a desert city, the buildings around him decaying, a satisfied grin erupted in his features. A city feature was the type of field that suited his tastes the most.

 

“Okay, time to get the show rollin’,” said Kagami, quickly moving his hands to his holsters and taking the two AR-24 from them. He quickly moved one of his hands backwards and fired the gun, killing one of the dummies that appeared in one of the windows of a building near him. “One down! Six left!”

 

The redhead turned around and lowered his body slightly, boosting his muscled body forward to chase after the next prey. He quickly found it when he turned the corner of a collapsing building and, without a single moment of hesitation, fired the gun, hitting the dummy in the chest.

 

And so he continued. Kagami searched for all seven dummies that that particular simulation provided. He eliminated the sixth one by entering inside of one of the ruined houses and surprising (if it could be called such, seeing as they were nothing more than holograms) the enemy, shooting it before it could have time to counterattack.

 

“Okay, one more and it’s done!” congratulated himself the redhead. He cautiously peered outside of the building and looked around the desert street. He got out of the building and started to walk, attentively taking in his surroundings.

 

After a few minutes of searching, he finally managed to find the location of the dummy. He positioned himself behind an old and rusty mailbox and aimed for his enemy. He was about to press the trigger when a shadow flashed by the corner of his eye. Without hesitation, Kagami pressed the trigger and shot down the dummy with one of his guns using two shots while with his other hand he dropped the second AR-24 and picked up his hunting knife, readily throwing it in the direction he saw the brief movement in.

 

“That was dangerous. Please don’t just suddenly throw something like this to unsuspecting people,” said a voice coming from nowhere.

 

_“The game has been cleared. Time: 13 minutes and 47 seconds. Targets eliminated: all. Times killed: zero. Shots made: 10 in total, with the throwing of a knife two times.”_

 

Kagami clicked his tongue and waited for the field around him to disperse. Because of the shadowy movement he saw, he used one more shot and knife throw than he had planned. After the field was all but an empty room, he looked over in the direction where he had thrown the knife and saw a familiar bluenette expressionlessly staring at him, his hunting knife held in one of his hands.

 

“When did you get here?” asked the redhead in a blunt manner, sulking at the fact that the result of this game had been negatively affected by the sudden appearance of the smaller male. The fact that he hadn’t heard anyone entering inside of the field was also making him slightly moody – he was a prided ‘Hunter’ so he was supposed to always pay attention to his surroundings and be alert of enemy attacks.

 

“Hello to you too,” deadpanned Kuroko, fully entering inside of the field. “And I’ve been observing you training from here since the very beginning. You forgot to close the door.”

 

“Grr!” Kagami felt one of the veins on his forehead pop out because of the little remark of the bluenette. He angrily put his gun on his holster and picked up the other one from the floor, doing the same to it. “Are you some sort of stalker?”

 

“I arrived first than you to the training facility,” pointed out Kuroko, motioning the hand that was holding the knife up and throwing it to the taller male in a clear and precise manner. “What are _you_ doing here at this time of the night?”

 

“Does that concern you in any way?” asked Kagami, grabbing the hilt of the knife thrown at him. The bluenette looked like a little prick to him, almost as insignificant and harmless as an ant, but he had to acknowledge that he knew how to throw the knife in an easy-to-catch way. Though that wouldn’t be a very favorable thing if he was throwing it against an enemy.

 

“It doesn’t concern me per se. But we are in the same team,” answered Kuroko, eyeing intently the taller male in a disguised manner. He had been ‘hunting’ for close to 20 minutes and not even a drop of sweat could be found on his body. He probably had been trained to withstand long periods of running after the enemy and that had now become a natural habit for him.

 

“…” The redhead continued to glance to the other male, a certain topic popping up in his head due to his words. He threw the knife to the air, making it spin, and then caught it once again with his hand, putting in back inside of its sheath in quick and fluid movements. “And what are you doing here at this hour? Usually the training facilities don’t let ‘Hunters’ inside during the night. Is that a little privilege of having belonged to that famous team of ‘Hunters’, ‘Emperor Light’?”

 

“…”

 

“You know, I was in a team in America until my second year of high school. When I returned to Japan… I was so disappointed by how low the level of ‘Hunt’ was here,” started Kagami, lightly tracing with his fingertips the sides of one of his guns. “I’m not searching to have fun while playing. I want to have a match that really gets me going, that makes my blood boil to no end. I was starting to lose my faith in the Japanese ‘Hunt’ until I heard about your previous team and the group of beasts called the ‘Generation of Miracles’ in it.”

 

“…”

 

“I have a pretty good sense when it comes to ‘Hunters’. The really good ones have this presence that makes others immediately notice they are there,” continued the redhead. He flickered one of his fingers and released the safety strap, taking his weapon out of the holster and pointing it to the bluenette. “There’s something wrong with you. Even the weakest of ‘Hunters’ have some sort of presence. But you… You have no presence whatsoever. I can’t even sense your strength. So I wanna see. Show me how good your ‘Generation of Miracles’ really is.”

 

“What a coincidence…” suddenly spoke Kuroko, motioning his hand up to the closed zipper of the jacket he was wearing on top of his suit. He slowly unzipped it and took off his jacket, a challenging expression on his face. “While I was observing you, I got curious. So let’s play a ‘Hunt’ game… One vs. one.”

 

“Heh! Bring it on!” answered Kagami, a smirk tugging his lips upwards while he motioned his other hand sideways to take his other gun from the holster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Glossary]  
> None to be added
> 
> You know... it's not exactly easy creating a sport from scratch -.-' I have to think up rules and the setting, and so many other details that will make it believable and easy to understand. I think it's sort of like creating a story within a story. Is my way of seeing it weird?
> 
> Anyway, I think you know what to expect of the next chapter, right? Kagami vs. Kuroko XD (and we obviously know who will win, don't we? :P)
> 
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mafy_mod  
> Tumblr: http://mafymod.tumblr.com/


	4. You should quit being a "Hunter"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, minna-san! Mafy's here with another chapter :D
> 
> This will be the last chapter in a while, unfortunately. "Bullet Proof" will start to have an irregular schedule from now on aka I don't know when the next chapter will come out. The cause - my mind is so full of AkaKuro at the moment that I literally can't write Kuroko with anyone else except Akashi at the moment -.-'
> 
> But fear not! This fic will continue! I just need to vent all my AkaKuro frustrations on "Shattered Miracles" first -.-'
> 
> Well, enjoy ^.^

Riko got up from the bus stop seat when she saw the bus she needed to take to get to her house. She stepped forward and waited for the bus to come to a stop and open its doors so she could enter.

 

Luckily, the bus wasn’t all that full, probably because of the late hour, so the brunette managed to grab a seat in the back. She had to stay longer than planned on “Cold Truth’s’” HQ, talking with both Hyuuga Junpei, the captain, and Izuki Shun regarding the new members: arranging their suits, scheduling training hours that suited every “Hunter” and starting to prepare the regiment trainings, based on the data the brunette got out of observing the newbies’ bodies.

 

Riko adjusted her headphones and switched to another song, turning her head to stare off to the street through the window.

 

 _Who exactly is he? Kuroko Tetsuya… Those stats are not of a “Hunter” from a powerful team, much less “Emperor Light”,_ mumbled the brunette in her mind.

 

A height of 168cm and weight of 57kg, his stats were low: power, speed, flexibility, everything. All of his numbers were below average in terms of both the male body and of what was expected of a “Hunter”. He was just simply not athletic. The worst in all this was that his body was already at its limit – very little improvement could be achieved now.

 

Kuroko had said he had played in matches with the regulars of “Emperor Light”; however, that was very hard to believe. Riko knew a lot of information on other teams of “Hunters” and their members, “Emperor Light” and the five “Hunters” that constituted the “Generation of Miracles” included, and she had never heard of a member that could have such weak stats.

 

So… who on Earth was Kuroko Tetsuya?

 

-.-

 

“Is there any setting you want to play?” asked Kagami, approaching the inner panel to insert new orders for the field. He looked behind to the smaller male, who was finishing adjusting his suit and his weapons.

 

From what he could see, Kuroko only had one handgun, a Ruger Model LCP II, put inside of a holster on his hip. However, he had three hunting knifes in his small frame. A Ontario ASEK-AircrewTM Survival Egress Knife on his lower back, and two Ka-Bar Becker BK7 Combat Utility Fixed Blade Knifes (a slightly bigger and adapted version of his own hunting knife), one in each lower leg.

 

It seemed that the bluenette was specialized in close combat, probably mainly in self-defense, taking into account his gun.

 

_With his tiny body, he will probably be at a disadvantage in close combat, but he seems prepared, so I guess I’ll be able to have a little bit of fun in a match against him._

 

“You can choose the field, Kagami-kun,” answered Kuroko, finishing adjusting the straps that held the sheath of one of his knifes to his leg. He turned around slightly and looked directly to the taller male, who was peering at him while waiting for his answer. “You can choose the field you work best with, if you want.”

 

“Yeah? Don’t regret it later, pipsqueak,” added the redhead, turning slightly more his face to look at the other male while smirking.

 

“I won’t,” simply answered the bluenette.

 

 _God, he pisses me off!,_ grumbled Kagami inwardly, angrily turning around to face the panel and finish inserting all the information so the field could be activated. _Since he’s so damn confident in his skills, I’ll show him what I got and kick his scrawny ass!_

 

“Okay, done,” confirmed the taller male, nodding his head as he pressed the button to initiate the field and, consequently, the one vs. one match.

 

_“Your option has been selected. Please place yourselves on each side of the field. Once the two ‘Hunters’ are in place, the countdown will begin.”_

 

“I did as you told me and choose the field that fits me the best,” started Kagami, leisurely walking to his side of the field. While motioning his body, he peered sideways to the smaller male, who was walking to the opposite side to where he was going. “But I’m not heartless, so I’ll tell you which field is it. I choose the same field I used in the training session that you were watching.”

 

“I see,” acknowledged Kuroko, the same expressionlessness he had been using since he showed up still present in his features.

 

The redhead felt his veins popping up once again, feeling extremely irked by the blank face of the other male. He was trying to be nice and use a field that the bluenette had already seen. But if he was going to act like this, he should have chosen the most complicated field there was, even if he wasn’t also very good at it.

 

“Let’s just get this over with…” grumbled Kagami, positioning himself in his side of the field. He was so going to kick the bluenette’s ass!

 

_“All ‘Hunters’ are in the desired positions. The game will start in 10 seconds. Nine… Eight…”_

 

“Hey, Kuroko,” suddenly called the redhead while rotating slightly his left shoulder.

 

“Yes?”

 

“At least entertain me a lil’, okay?” added Kagami, the smirk on his features widening as he readied his body to a combat position.

 

_“One… ‘Hunt’ – begin.”_

 

The buzz sounded once again and the air inside of the wide room quivered slightly, their surroundings starting to morph once again to the same desert and half-destructed city from the previous training session. As soon as the field was completely out, Kagami jumped to the side and quickly motioned his body to the nearest perpendicular street, keeping the motionless smaller male under his gaze until the wall of a decaying building blocked him from his vision.

 

While circling the building, the redhead entered inside of the old construction through a cavity he had spotted in the previous game and climbed the stairs to the second floor. When he looked outside of the building through the window, he noticed that Kuroko was in the exact same place where he had been when the game initiated.

 

 _What is that moron doing? Well, if he doesn’t make a move, I will!_ Kagami took from his right holster his handgun and took aim to the smaller male. The exact same moment he moved his finger to press the trigger, Kuroko gave a step backwards and the bullet hit the floor an inch in front of his feet.

 

“Wha—!?” Before the bluenette could use his given away location against him, Kagami shoot once again his handgun and, with an accurate aim, hit the other male on his chest, who simply feel down to the floor as the cooling period imposed by the suit started.

 

 _Was it a fluke that he decided to move at that precise moment? Or did he knew I was here?,_ mumbled the redhead inwardly as he exited outside of the building. One of the rules of the “Hunt” forced the hitter to change locations every time they killed another “Hunter” (though there were some exceptions for that rule) so in the next minute he had to decide another strategy and approach to “kill” Kuroko six more times while, of course, not letting himself be “killed”.

 

After exiting the building through the same hole he had entered, he walked at a quick pace through the street parallel to where Kuroko was current on. He was planning on walking all the way to its end and then go to the other street once again, take aim to the bluenette and “kill” him one more time.

 

Measuring the time in a precise manner was an important quality for the “Hunt”, so the taller male continuously took notice on his speed while going to the aiming location. If he got there too quickly, he could make some kind of noise that would give away his position once again, but if he got there too late, Kuroko’s cooling period could end and the bluenette could change his location.

 

And the latter was what happened. When Kagami looked over to the street while hidden behind the corner of a building, he found himself completely alone in that street. He couldn’t find any signs whatsoever of the smaller male. _Well, at least he does know how to hide. But, with such a weak presence, it’s a given._

 

The redhead was about to take a step forward to the street when a knife came flying in his direction. He prepared his body to jump backwards so as to avert its trajectory but… the knife hit the wall a good 6 meters away from his position. Kagami quickly aimed his gun to the place where the knife had come from. He was greeted by nothing but thin air, however.

 

“Huh? But the knife came from—“ As soon as the taller male lowered his gun, he saw the same shadow in the corner of his eye that he had noticed in his earlier training session and readily threw the knife jabbed in the wall beside him in its direction. A second later, he heard something considerably light hitting the floor, though the slightly muffled sound it had made indicated that it had been a body hitting the ground and not the knife.

 

 _‘Guess that makes it two,_ thought Kagami in the back of his mind, looking to his surrounding in order to decide what was going to be his next move. _But he’s kinda…_

 

Soon after deciding his next strategy, another opportunity to “kill” Kuroko surged almost immediately. All Kagami had to do was take aim from behind a small walled fence and he forced the cooling period on the bluenette for the third time. And then the fourth.

 

_He’s…_

 

A measly six minutes later, the fifth kill came almost falling from the sky – seeing as Kuroko just suddenly decided to jump in front of him while only wielding one of his hunting knifes.

 

_He’s…_

 

After changing his location for the umpteenth time, Kagami’s sixth time “killing” Kuroko also was provided to him on a silver platter since he spotted the smaller male as he prepared himself to make one more (now completely failed) attempt to ambush him. Without hesitation, the redhead took aim and shot the bluenette from behind, making him fall to the ground on his face.

 

 _He’s so bad that I could die! And this is a game where we’re supposed to “kill” each other, if that’s saying a lot!,_ cursed Kagami inwardly, as he looked down to the inert body (due to the cooling period) of the other male in front of him. He intently observed him while waiting for the 1-minute period to pass by.

 

Even if they had weak body types like the bluenette, there have been a few “Hunter” who excelled in this sport by polishing their skills to a degree where their prowess in the “Hunt” was undeniable. However, Kuroko was hardly better than an amateur at shooting his handgun, at throwing his knife and on his attempts to “kill” him. It was almost as if he had just decided to become a “Hunter” on a whim the previous month. There was just nothing that could be called a “good quality” or “advantage” on him in regards of the “Hunt”.

 

 _This is completely ridiculous,_ mumbled the redhead in the back of his mind while sighing.

 

After one minute went by, Kuroko started to slowly motion his body upwards, rubbing slightly his nose due to the way he had fallen to the ground. Once in a sitting position, he peered backwards to the taller male.

 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! What do you think you’re doing!?” started admonishing Kagami, not even bothering to restrain the anger he was feeling at the moment, much less caring about the fact that he still needed to ‘kill’ the bluenette one more time to come out of the game victorious. “How much do you overestimate your own abilities as a ‘Hunter’ to think you even have a chance of beating me!? And you even challenged me all arrogantly!”

 

“No way,” answered Kuroko, getting up on his own two feet while shaking off the dust on his suit. “Of course you are a stronger ‘Hunter’ than me. I knew that from the very beginning.”

 

For the hundredth time since he first saw the small bluenette, Kagami felt a huge need to just beat the crap out of him. He lunged his hand forward and grabbed him by the front of his suit, near his collarbone, closing their distance to mere inches. “Stop fucking around! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

 

“I simply wanted to see how good you are for myself, Kagami-kun,” answered Kuroko, not even a bit scared or threatened by the raging man holding into him.

 

“What?” Kagami stared at the bluenette for a few seconds, disbelieve written all over his face. He then released his suit and motioned his hand up to his head, continuing to keep the other male under his gaze.

 

_Geez… My good sense on other “Hunters” is getting dull. Kuroko’s simply so weak that he doesn’t have any presence whatsoever. This match was a waste of my time…_

 

“Um… Kagami-kun?” called Kuroko, tilting slightly his head as he looked straight at him. “Shouldn’t we—“

 

“No, this is enough. I’m not interested in weak ‘Hunters’,” interrupted Kagami by motioning his hand forth to silence the bluenette. He then motioned the same hand up and stayed in that position for a few seconds.

 

_“One of the ‘Hunters’ has forfeit the game. Time: 28 minutes and 11 seconds. Player number one: zero times killed. Player number two: six times killed. Shots made by player number one: 8 shots, with three knife throws. Shots made by player number two: 21 shots, with six knife throws. Basing on the data registered, and the forfeit of player number one, this game has been concluded with no winner.”_

 

The desert city around them slowly started to fade, the buildings twitching and wobbling as the field returned to a completely empty room. Kagami threw one more glance to the smaller male and started to walk to the door to exit the field and proceed home.

 

Observing the taller male taking such actions, Kuroko slowly followed him after having gathered the two knifes that were lying on the ground. While walking, he softly put them back inside of their correspondent sheaths and came out of the field.

 

Back inside of the small lodge attached to that particular field, the redhead was swiftly putting back his clothes on, not even bothering to take his suit first, storing carefully his weapons on the sports bag he had with him. The smaller male intently observed him while he continued arranging his stuff.

 

“Let me just tell one last thing before I leave,” suddenly started Kagami, turning around to face the other male while tugging his sports bag up by the strap to lean it on his shoulder. “You should quit being a ‘Hunter’. Even if you continue trying and yap about pretty lil’ things like putting in a good effort, having raw talent is what really counts in the end. And you have absolutely no talent for the ‘Hunt’.”

 

“I won’t accept that,” suddenly spoke the bluenette, halting the leaving motion of the taller male, who simply turned around to look at him once again, an eyebrow slightly raised. With slow steps, he started to walk in the redhead’s direction, lightly tracing with the back of his fingers the holster on his hip. “I love being a ‘Hunter’ after all. But it appears that we don’t share the same opinion. I don’t care about who’s strong or weak.”

 

“…” Kagami fully turned around to face the bluenette, who was still motioning over in his direction, the perpetual blank expression on his features. Though he was thinking that way, the taller male could see a slight glint of strength and conviction hidden in the smaller male’s teal eyes.

 

“I’m not like you, Kagami-kun. I’m not a ‘Hunter’ who shines in the light like what you see or like what you are. I am a shadow, after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Glossary]  
> None to be add
> 
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mafy_mod  
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